1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a management server and a method for controlling the management server to analyze the use tendency of a user with reference to print job history of a printer and visualize the analysis result.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO), such as papers, toners, and electric power consumed for printers, it is useful for a device administrator to change default print settings of a printer driver in such a way as to prioritize 2in1 or two-sided setting over the original setting and distribute the updated printer driver to users. However, if a desired print result cannot be obtained when each user performs printing of a document based on the changed default print settings of the printer driver distributed by the device administrator, the user reprints the same document while changing the distributed print settings to select a desired (e.g., 1in1) setting according to user's preference in many case.
As discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-011597, it is conventionally known to realize the TCO reduction by performing a print operation based on print settings distributed by a device administrator. The conventional method discussed in the above-mentioned conventional technique includes acquiring print setting values recommended by a device administrator and average print settings having been selected by a user. Further, the conventional method includes comparing two acquired setting values and calculating TCO and CO2 reduction effects if there is any difference in print settings. The conventional method further includes displaying at least one print setting, as a candidate to be changed, together with calculated reduction effects, before the user starts a printing operation. The user selects an appropriate print setting and performs the printing operation based on the changed print settings. Therefore, respective users can perform printing operations while confirming cost reduction effects. This is effective in encouraging each user to keep cost reductions in mind.
The above-mentioned conventional technique is preferably employed in a case where the printing operation is performed after a print job is once stored in a print job storage server or in a printer. In other words, in a case where a printing operation is directly instructed from the printer driver to the printer, the printing operation is automatically performed based on the default settings of the printer driver having been set beforehand by the device administrator. Therefore, the above-mentioned conventional technique is not useful if the printing is directly instructed from the printer driver to the printer, because the above-mentioned conventional technique cannot eliminate a useless reprint of the same document that may occur when the print settings having been set by the device administrator are dissatisfactory.
Conventionally, there is not any useful way of visualizing a reprint of the same document if it occurs because of dissatisfactory print settings having been set by the device administrator. Therefore, it was difficult for the device administrator to be aware of the amount of useless reprint operations performed in an office.